The Benifits From Our Animated Storyboard...

After my group and I discussed the plot and what would happen during our 2 minute film opening, we put together an animated storyboard so that we could visualise each shot clearly and perfect different aspects that made the film successful. The storyboard encouraged my group and I to converse with eachother, discussing issues such as timing and sound effects. Timing was something we had to consider carefully, as it was vital that we didn't run over 2 minutes and to prevent this from happening, we all discussed how long we thought each camera shot should last for and wrote it down on the storyboard. We all agreed that most of our shots would be quite quick and jumpy because our film was a horror and we wanted to build as much tension as possible. The storyboard also helped us decide where we wanted to place our chosen uncopyrighted sound effects and we thought that by having some form of eerie, non diegetic music playing constantly in the background, it would therefore keep the audience in suspense. When filming our storyboard, we tried to film each picture the way we would when we filmed it properly. For example, if the shot included a zoom, we moved the camera in towards the animation we drew so that when we looked back on it, we would know what type of effect to apply. Our storyboard also helped us with editing when we uploaded the animations onto pinnacle, allowing us to gain more knowledge of the computer programme and experiment with different effects and slide transitions as well. In my opinion, the storyboard we created helped us immensely as a group, showing us that if you put something down on paper, you can consequently see the bigger picture so you understand exactly what you want to achieve and to help you think about how you can make your work evenmore successful.

Amityville 2: The Possession (opening credits)

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

When comparing the opening title credits and film sequence of Amityville 2 to my own media group's horror film opening, I noticed some similarities between the way both openings were presented. For example, the start of Amityville 2 begins with the noise of a gust of wind, a sound effect my group and I were planning to add at some point during our 2 minute video. When the setting of the scene first appears, we instantly see a sign saying 'For Sale.' It was very similar to our idea of showing a street sign with the name of our film 'Hotel Road' displayed across it and as a group we all agreed that by showing the sign, it would therefore help the audience picture the setting and immediately give them some idea of the atmosphere around. The beginning of Amityville 2 includes an eerie, non diegetic piano type sound in the background, creating tension and suspense and sound was definitely something that my group wanted to apply to our short clip, whether it be actual music or just a range of scary sound effects. The camera tends to pan across the house and forest rather slowly throughout the entire opening of Amityville 2 as well, creating some anticipation. We all decided to make our camera slowly pan across the street houses before gradually zooming in onto the house's door. I noticed how Amityville 2 also used the effect of zooming in onto a small window at the top of the house and as it did, the music suddenly became deeper and more threatening because of this. The font used for the credits was also quite similar to ours, as we also used bold, block writing that would stand out and be recognised. By watching this opening, it made me reflect on how my group and I could experiment with different techniques to create a scary atmosphere and therefore make our opening even more successful as a horror.

What have I learnt about Institution?

What do we mean by ‘Institution’ in Media? Well, after analysing this new concept with closer detail and the effect it has on us, I’ve consequently discovered how frequently we are confronted with it everyday. Many people would describe Institution in Media as a ‘set of rules or codes that constrain and control our daily lives’ and prime types of media introducing such values would include that of the Internet, Newspapers, and unsurprisingly, television. I also learnt that, even though Institution offers many advantages for prospering businesses, there is also a danger to us the public, being somewhat influenced by only one particular opinion of a certain successful organisation, leaving other businesses and their values very little chance of being acknowledged. I learnt that Institution is basically about understanding who produces media texts, what their relationship is to us as individuals and finally, what their set of values are.
A good example of a massively successful company in the Institution of media would be Walt Disney. Like many well known companies, Walt Disney have a set of values that they stick by, telling us the public, what we can expect. Walt Disney promise innovation, offering something new and refreshing for their audience. They appreciate quality, striving to follow a high standard of excellence. They care about the community, constantly attempting to provide entertainment for all families and generations. They also aim to maintain optimism and honour the trust people place in them.
Walt Disney initially began as a producer of short-subject motion pictures, however, has since then expanded and now becoming part of radio, television, publishing and travel. Among these mediums there is the Disney Interactive Media Group that promotes their products, the Disneyland Resort and even the Disney Cruise Line. Disney also owns 80% of the ESPN channel and 25% of the GMTV channel.
After my research on companies such as Walt Disney, I was amazed by how much they owned and profited from. I soon realised that in theory, it is practically impossible to escape the influence of these companies, because of the amount of control they have on what we are exposed to. These facts surprised me greatly and as a result, made me reflect on how Institution really is a massive part of our lives, even though most of us still may not even realise it.

"Life With Mikey" Opening Title Sequence Review

As an audience, it is only natural for us to try and establish the characters, location, plot, genre and theme of a film instantly, after viewing it’s opening title sequence. The 1993 film “Life With Mikey” is a Scott Rudin Production and is directed by James Lapine. This light-hearted comedy is distributed by Touchstone Pictures and includes many effective film techniques and specific camera angles to make it engaging whilst also introducing the type and style of the film.
Among the cast, Michael J Fox and Christina Vidal are introduced as the main characters of the movie, even if it isn‘t until a little later on in the story. Fox plays Mikey, a child’s talent agent, and although a former child star himself, struggles to maintain the success of his agency due to the increasing numbers of wannabe stars leaving the company to find stardom somewhere else. However, when bumping into Angie Vega, a young and spirited pick pocket with impressive acting ability, the pair soon embark on a heart warming journey to make it big.
The opening titles of the film begin with diegetic sound of a piano arrangement in the background, immediately introducing us to a jazzy tone with a showbiz theme to the movie. The titles and credits are presented in a Broadway style font that gradually fades and is accompanied by flashing gold stars, therefore also giving a certain showbiz feel to the movie.
The opening scene of the movie switches from the titles to a stage in a small audition room, in which different children are performing, trying to impress agent, Ed Chapman, Mikey’s brother, played by Nathan Lane. The setting instantly pulls us into the performing world, giving us an idea of what the film is about.
There is no voiceover or particular choice of narrative in the opening sequence of the film. Instead, we are thrown right into the story with the actors interacting and speaking, leaving us to discover the plot of the film for ourselves.
The camera angles vary throughout the opening, depending on the amount of characters in the actual shot and what is happening. For example, at one point when a young girl dances on the stage in the audition room, the camera is set to a wide shot so we can see the whole of her body and therefore everything she is doing. However, when the scene switches to a child pulling a funny face, the camera moves from starting as a mid shot, then gradually zooms in to catch a close up of his face. After the close up, there is an over the shoulder shot from the view of the young boy and this is where we are introduced to Ed Chapman, speaking directly to him and telling him what he thought of the performance. The over the shoulder shot was rather effective, as we the audience felt that we were the ones being judged on the stage, again communicating the theme of show business. It also gives us a sense that the film somewhat revolves around the topics of success, determination and inspiration, making the film overall, a light-hearted and entertaining comedy, including music and fun for all the family.

My Evaluation Blog Of Preliminary Task

To start developing my knowledge of media, I took part in a preliminary task which involved creating a short, thirty second clip with my group that included the three main camera shots. Our short film had to have a shot reverse shot, match on action shot and the 180 degree rule, making the clip interesting and more professional. Firstly, we decided to set our film outside the school diner as the story revolved around one person offering another person some of their lunch whilst also being a place that was available for the group to use at that specific time. As a group we planned when and where we would apply the three main camera shots as well as others to the clip to add effect.
For the match on action shot we all agreed to use the door leading out from the diner, so we could make the actor look like they were walking straight through the door in one movement. This shot was extremely successful, as it looked very natural and effortless.
The shot reverse shot was applied during the conversation of the two characters being filmed and created much more impact than filming both characters at the same time in one shot, due to the fact that it looked as if we were seeing everything from the other character’s view. It was also very fluent, however, this type of shot unfortunately affected our next type of shot, the 180 degree rule.
We attempted to keep the entire film within a 180 degree radius throughout our recording, although when looking back at the video, my group noticed that the shot reverse shot we had included went slightly over the 180 radius, breaking the rule altogether. Even though it was wasn’t a major mistake, my group and I still felt the need to learn from the error so that we would not repeat the same thing in the future with other projects.
To recognise our mistakes my group also made a commentary, reviewing errors and explaining to the viewers of our video what we did, what was successful and what wasn’t. The commentary appeared to help my us as a group evaluate what we had done and what could possibly be improved, therefore making the video an ideal example of something to learn from and furthermore encouraging us to continue improving our future projects.
To conclude, I would say that overall my group and I worked rather well together, discussing the most effective way to put the video together and when it would be the most appropriate time to apply each of the three main camera shots in the video. Even though my group’s video may not have been the most exciting or spectacular, our main focus was to include the shots where appropriate and experiment with different types of technology like the camera and the recorder for our commentary. The task also managed to increase our knowledge of different types of media and computer programmes, such as pinnacle in the process.

Why I took Media Studies for A Level

When choosing my A Level subjects, I wanted to study subjects that could help me in my future career and seeing as I would like to work in the peforming arts/drama industry, I thought that by taking Media Studies, I could learn more about the world and the things that affect us in everyday life because of what we are exposed to. Media Studies can open up so many doors and could enable me to see things from many different perspectives, something that is useful and ideal for the drama industry.